The Shadow
by S. Snowflake
Summary: Jack's son is preparing to join him for the annual Halloween celebration in Town Square, but his scaring and fire tricks are less-than polished. It's a bad time for one of Halloween Town's greatest threats to return and offer the child a chance at being scarier than he's ever dreamed to be. A collaboration between myself and Ghost Peacock. Contains original characters. R&R!
1. Part I

_Author's Note/Disclaimer__: Happy Halloween, everybody! I just barely managed to write something this year as a Halloween/Christmas special. As a special bonus, this year's special feature original characters and illustrations by my sister Ghost Peacock!. The way the illustrations work is that as we update things, you'll see new thumbnail art in the corner. It's an interesting collaboration for me, but as Jack has proven, some intriguing things can come out of trying something new!_

_We do not own _The Nightmare Before Christmas _or any of its characters. They are the property of Walt Disney Pictures. We only create fanworks. Enjoy!_

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

_**The Shadow**_

_A long time ago in the land of Halloween, the king grew tired of his holiday. When he discovered Christmas, he felt as though he had discovered a new purpose in his afterlife. In reality, his love of the winter holiday lead him on a grievous misadventure to try leading Christmas himself. He nearly destroyed Christmas that year and much more, but rather than turn further away from his holiday, he decided to set things right with both worlds and his undead heart. And since that Christmas, the holiday worlds and the creatures that inhabited them were never the same._

_But there was more to Pumpkin King Jack's story than his Christmas mishap. Jack believed that one true nightmare of Halloween's past had been left behind. He was wrong…_

* * *

The towered manor at the edge of Halloween Town Square was always a rather noisy abode. Whether it was from the visiting ghosts or the residential family, frightening shrieks could be heard at many times of the day (and even more in the evening) through the thin, old walls. It was a delight to the many monsters that walked by. On that day, the shrieking was particularly loud, but that wasn't surprising given that Halloween night was only a few weeks away.

The source of most of the day's shrieks was running around the manor in a tattered burlap suit and a pumpkin on his head. His skinny, yet short femurs sent him hurdling about the manor as he howled. Meanwhile his parents, a living skeleton and rag doll, could only watch happily when he popped into the main living room. They were the king and queen of Halloween, and this was a part of their child's scare practice.

An apparition appeared in the chamber, only to have the child run straight through its wispy form. The ghost, now a fully visible dog, growled in frustration at the assault despite not feeling a thing.

"Now Tim," the Pumpkin King finally interrupted his son's rampage after his third run through the room and the unintentional attack on the dog, "the technique is not so much in the speed or how much you scream, but in the timing of both."

The young ghoul finally slowed down. "-But dad," he muttered from beneath the pumpkin on his head before lifting it off and revealing his skull, "with your costume, I'm already terrifying!"

"It _is_ a close replica," his mother remarked. An expert at sewing, she had made the costume for her son to resemble Jack's, but she knew that a lookalike outfit wasn't all he needed.

"I had a costume like that too when I helped with the show," said a voice from behind the rag doll. It was Tim's older sister Star, who walked in with a smug, skeletal grin. "And nobody thought I was scary."

"Nobody _ever_ thinks you're scary," Tim countered, sticking out a mummified tongue at his sister.

"Stop it," the rag doll said firmly. "No fighting about scares. Although your father does have a point. It's all about–"

The conversation was broken by a loud scream that was so loud it shook some objects in the room. Afterward, the ghoulish family all turned to the source, a skeletal baby that had previously been napping on the nearby sofa. Noel, the youngest Skellington, had made her voice heard.

"Now _that's _timing!" the king said, praising the infant with a game of peek-a-boo before turning back to his now sulking son. "All you need to do is practice a little with that, and you'll be terrifying, I'm sure."

Tim dropped the pumpkin head to the floor before leaving the room and climbing up a long, tall flight of stairs to his chamber. "Without fire, I'm not terrifying enough," he said.

An air of pity filled the room after that. Star left, feeling uncomfortable about the situation, while the king and queen just stood by, saddened. Only Noel was happy, chewing on a toy in her phalanges.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said anything," the skeleton said and sat down in an owl-shaped chair.

"You didn't do anything wrong," his wife said.

"Sally, I upset him every time I try to give him advice for the ceremony. And with Halloween so close–well, what if he doesn't master the fire tricks?"

"Well, maybe he won't," Sally answered, then smiled. "You know he's only trying to make you happy. He's so worried about what you'll think."

"I don't mind if we can't pull off the show together, but I know it means a lot to him," Jack answered.

Sally nodded. "He already wants to be you."

Jack chuckled. "If only he knew what I had to go through to become the…" He stopped then, thinking about something. "Wait, that's it!"

"What's it?" Sally asked.

Jack turned away before treading the same flight of stairs. "I'll give him inspiration from Halloween history!"

"How?"

Jack turned back around to his queen, kissing her forehead lightly. "–The underground, dear."

Sally's eyes widened even more than usual. "But Jack, you know about…"

"Yes, I already thought about _him_," he replied, "-But Tim and I don't have to go into that part of the underground, now do we?"

Sally might have answered, but a crash from downstairs, a baby's demonic cackling, and a dog's anxious barking–in that order–caught her attention. She stepped back downstairs to attend to the trouble, but not before adding, "Just be careful."

Jack shook his head. Sally was always worried about his decisions, but then again, the past had proven that she had reason to be. Carefully, he opened the old door to his son's room. It creaked loudly, as all proper haunted house doors do, and Jack cleared what was left of his throat. He peered inside the room and saw Tim dangling his legs off the bed, a bony pout on his face.

"Son?" Jack asked, smiling.

"Dad," acknowledged Tim, not even turning his skull around.

"Oh Tim, don't be this way. You'll be horrifying, really! You just need a little inspiration."

"I guess," remarked the skeleton boy.

The ghost dog darted through the floor of the room, whining from whatever Noel had been up to downstairs. After a moment, he landed in Tim's lap. The boy could at least smile a bit with the dog there.

"Well," Jack continued, "if you'd be up for a trip to the underground tomorrow, there's something there I'd like to show you."

"The underground? Really?" Tim asked excitedly, allowing a big smile to creep up his skull.

"Well, sure. You've already been under the fountain, so why don't we explore the catacombs a little?"

"But Mother said I'd have to wait until I'm older," Tim reminded his father, secretly knowing that his mother was the authority on these things.

"–And you _are_ older now. I really think it will do you good."

Tim leaped off the bed, phasing right through the yapping Zero, before hugging his father's leg. "Sounds great!"


	2. Part II

_Au__thor's Note: Hello, everyone! Yes, I know it's been nearly two months since the premier of this story, but man do tricky Biology classes and artist's block take their tolls! Though I'm more than ready to apologize for my incompetence, I'm really hoping for a review right about now. I have a couple of reviews on the deviantart version, but nothing here, and I believe you guys are liking this as much as my older tnbc fanfictions._**  
**

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

**Part II**

Below Halloween Town–the square, the residential districts, the graveyard, all of it–lay a veritable maze of tunnels known as the underground. Due to its vastness and a population of both residents and visitors, it could well be called a town beneath the town. Jack and Tim descended into this place through a manhole past Halloween Town's gate.

"Mind the spiders, son," Jack said. "They get a little snippy if you break their webs. I spent weeks searching down here when they took off my index finger bone."

Tim chuckled. "And Mother wasn't too happy about it."

Jack laughed back and reached a slender arm behind to help his son down the very steep staircase. The two skeletons then continued on into the tunnel with only faint glimmers of glowworms on the walls providing light.

"How is your night vision, son?" Jack asked.

"Fine, dad," Tim replied before promptly running into a wall.

Jack did his best to suppress a laugh. "Well, this tunnel only gets darker from here. Unless you think you can create a torch?"

"I…I'll try, Dad," the boy said, nervous.

"Just don't think too hard about it," Jack advised. "Let it come to you." He demonstrated by holding out a hand, shutting his eyesockets for a moment, and almost instantly a small flame appeared.

Tim nodded and did his best to summon fire. He could feel the flames flickering inside his little bones, but it wasn't enough. After all he did to unleash the power, all that came of it were a few sparks. Tim sighed afterward, knowing he had failed.

"It's alright, son," Jack said and pulled Tim's shoulder. "It won't be long until we reach the part of the passage we need to anyway."

"Okay," Tim muttered and followed the flame that his father produced.

Traveling further into the underground made the young skeleton quickly forget his momentary sadness. The dark, cramped tunnels seemed to carry on endlessly and the echoes of screams from both above and inside the tunnels echoed throughout the chambers. It was fantastic! Jack seemed to know various creatures that appeared before them, greeting a demon with a hundred blinking eyes and a ghost with squished fingers, both of which Tim had never met before.

"He was a heavy lifter when he was alive," Jack commented about the ghost after they passed him by.

"How come I've never seen him before, dad?" Tim asked.

"Because he and many other monsters down here are very shy," Jack answered. "They usually only come out on Halloween night."

"Why would they want to stay down here all year long?"

"Well, there are monsters that are still afraid of things."

"What things?" Tim asked.

"–Humans," Jack replied. "And though you and I know they're no threat, a lot of us used to be afraid of…" He stopped then, scanning the darkness as though someone else had heard him talking.

"Dad?" Tim asked as the fire in his father's palm grew noticeably larger.

"I thought I didn't see something," Jack muttered.

"Huh?" Tim asked. It made some sense, for the tunnel they were currently inside was pitch black, but being concerned about not seeing something was still strange.

Jack shook his head. "Come on, son. Let's leave anything that_ is_ here behind."

The two ghouls continued on through the tunnel in near silence, tension filling the air. Tim didn't like it. His father was always excitable, but in a joyous way. This nervousness was new to him. It was almost like fear.

At last a stream of light began to clear up the dark, and after a short time, Jack could extinguish his personally made torch. The strange nerves between the two skeletons also began to clear, and Tim felt compelled to ask his father a new question.

"Dad, what was back there? You seem upset."

Jack nodded, but did not turn to face his son. "It's a prison."

"A prison?" Tim asked, a smile creeping up his skull. "Ooh, how _horrible_! Can we go in there next?"

"Absolutely not!" Jack declared, silencing the excited boy. "There's still a prisoner in there, and he's a character I'd rather you not meet."

Tim was taken aback by his father's reaction, but couldn't help his own curiosity. "Why?" he asked.

Jack finally turned around. "It has to do with what we're here for. There are some creatures that want things to be the way they once were."

"So, they want to make Halloween a mean holiday again?"

"Yes. Now, if I remember right, it should be…" He turned around, scratched his skull, and then smiled. "Ah-ha!" he declared, tapping a brick and causing an eerie green glow to appear from the catacomb cracks.

Tim was surprised by this strange power. It caused the rats nearby to tremble and run away. Somewhere far behind them in the tunnels, Tim thought he heard a screech of fear as the light continued to shine a brighter and brighter green. And then it stopped.

What had a moment ago been a blank wall was now covered in simple drawings of all sorts of monsters. There were corn stalks near the bottom of the wall, trees in the center, and near the top, a group of stick figures.

"It was drawn by a witch who lived down here," Jack explained. "She was very old and she passed into the next life when I was only about a hundred, but she put a great spell on it to remind us of our past."

Tim was about to ask what the spell was before Jack touched one of the etched creatures drawn in the middle of the trees and it instantly moved across the wall.

"A long time ago, all kinds of monsters lived in this land, just as we do today." As Jack spoke, other creature drawings began to move around and interact, spooking each other and smiling.

"-But things were a little different then. Unlike today, many humans didn't like us–thought we wanted to hurt them."

The human sketches at the top of the drawing ventured into the lower woods, where a hoard of monster drawings ran away in fear.

"–Of course, they had reason to believe that."

The Pumpkin King tapped a fat-looking monster drawing in the middle of the mural and soon it, too, began to move. It marched over to the humans in the woods, frightening them and then-horrifically-eating a small one that didn't run fast enough. Tim could practically hear the screams from the drawn humans, but not screams of joy, rather screams of agony.

"The Boogie Men ruled over Halloween for centuries, keeping humans and other monsters in line," Jack said, just as the Boogie Man drawing neared the end of the picture plane and grinned wickedly.

"As for us Skellingtons, we came from a long line of pumpkin farmers. Just peasants." Jack tapped the corn ield, and a skeletal stick figure emerged with a cart full of pumpkins, trying to smile despite his heavy load.

"Most other monsters didn't fare better, and by the time that Oogie Boogie became king, well, let's just say that Halloween had become a shadowy place."

A dark shadow crept over the drawing, changing the whole piece to black.

"Dad," Tim interrupted, "I already know what happened then. You out-scared Oogie and proved that monsters could still scare humans without hurting them."

"Well," Jack said, crossing his arms, "I guess you don't want these poor monster drawings to get help."

Tim sighed. "Sorry…"

"Now then," the king resolved, "as you said, I defeated Oogie Boogie in a scare duel." A fire appeared in the drawing, lighting up the mural before a scarecrow figure emerged and unleashed a host of drawn ghosts and ghouls to frighten away the already terrified Boogie Man drawing. He ran right into a large crater where bars appeared out of nowhere. And the scarecrow drawing removed his pumpkin head to reveal Jack's familiar, smiling face.

"No one really knows why I had the power to make fire. I knew plenty of tricks, and I practiced every day in my youth to become the most terrifying creature I could be."

In the illustrated cornfield, a young Jack scared hungry weevils off his latest crop.

"Dr. Finkelstein thinks we're distant relatives of some kind of fire salamander, but I think it was all the hope the monsters had given me to stop Oogie." Several monster drawings appeared around the Jack illustration and cheered for him. "One thing was for certain though," Jack said, and just as he did, the whole mural glimmered with the glow of a hundred jack-o-lantern drawings that appeared from nothing. Their lights illuminated the mural, showing the now prosperous Halloween Town.

"–Everything was much brighter," Jack concluded.

The drawing glowed magically for a little while longer before the figures returned to their original locations and eventually the fires dimmed. Soon there was nothing left but the blank wall again.

"–And that's why I brought you here. Because the citizens tribute that victory by having me dress in my old farm gear and do a few fire tricks. It's a ritual."

"So there's a lot to it," Tim said and took a step back. "But what if I can't do it?"

"That's just it. It's only a ceremony. It's not as though you'll _need_ to use your powers like I did; they'll understand that."

"I really want to be scary though, dad."

"–And you are! You've been frightening humans since you were just a baby, don't you forget that." Jack placed a hand on his son's shoulder before crouching down to his level. "What's more, if the people of Halloween could fill me with enough hope to give me powers of fire, I know they'll do the same for you someday."

"–And if it can't be by this Halloween?" Tim asked.

Jack grinned. "Halloween comes every year. You have plenty of time."

Tim smiled and hugged his father then. He knew that most of this had been only a pep talk, but going to the underground, seeing the bewitched mural, and talking to his father had made him feel better. "I'll do my best, dad."

"I know you will," Jack answered. After a time in their embrace, Jack finally let Tim go and stood. "Come along now, son. We don't want to spend all day down here."

The two skeletons returned through the tunnel, talking of the mural, their family history, and mentioning how the holiday tree circle could very well be added to the mural. On the way out, they again encountered several monsters, one in particular Jack spent some time talking to.

Tim was a very polite monster, but also a curious one, and after several minutes of conversation that did not involve him, he decided to chase a few wayward cockroaches into the dark of the nearest tunnel. One insect ran very far into the darkness, so far that Tim couldn't see. He squinted, trying to spot his prey, and saw a little movement.

"All right, I gotcha' now," he said and charged into the dark.

But the bug wasn't there. And whatever was there wanted to talk.

"Skellington," it said, near whispering.

Tim knew better than to be afraid, but this unseen creature unnerved him. "H-hello?" he stammered.

"Skellington," the voice repeated, "I want to talk to you, Skellington."

"I…" Tim started but was interrupted by his father's calling.

"Tim? Come out, son. We need to get back home."

Tim was happy to oblige, following his father's voice back to the main tunnel. Remembering an earlier part of their trip through the underground, he wondered if the prisoner had been calling to him, but didn't want to mention it to his father. He might have gotten in trouble for that.

But all the way back home from the underground, Tim could hear that voice whispering, "Tim Skellington…"


	3. Part III

****_Author's Note__: Welcome back after nearly a month! So, here's chapter three at last. There's some good new despite these incredibly slow updates. The good news is that the rough version of the story is nearly complete. Only the seventh chapter has yet to be written down in either my journal or Word log. The bad news is I'm returning to a full-time college schedule in less than a month and my sister is already back to class, so we find little time to sit down, read through drafts, and swap an illustration. Still, we'll be pushing to get this all released by the end of March! And please, please review. Reviews make us work faster. _

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

**Part III**

A few days passed, and Halloween drew closer. With the central day of the year coming up, every creature was stirring with excitement. The royal family was just as busy, with King Jack and Queen Sally attending several haunting and celebratory practices with various monsters, though largely with the ever-perfectionist Mayor. There was scarce time for the king and queen to spend with their own little goblins.

Tim had been feeling both better and stranger since his visit to the underground. He now felt more at ease about the upcoming celebration, but more curious about the voice that had tried to speak to him. With his parents out and his curiosity piqued, he resolved to go to the underground alone.

Tim hadn't made it all the way down the tallest staircase of Skellington manor before he heard a forced cough. He turned around to face his sister Star sitting in the owl chair. If she had had eyebrows, they would have been raised to accompany her bony grin.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Out," Tim answered.

"We're supposed to stay here, remember? The sitter ghost is busy with Noel right now, but I'll tell if you leave."

Tim frowned. "Come on, Star. I didn't tell when you snuck back into Christmas Town."

Star pouted. "So, you think I owe you or something?"

"Yes. And, if you promise not to tell them, I can show you the way to an underground prison!"

His sister smirked. "Dungeons really aren't my cup of brew, but if it's a secret, I guess I'm in." A crash came from upstairs, and a ghostly moan resonated through the hall. "–I think I'll help with Noel for now, though."

"Thanks," Tim said and ran out of the room. He then went down several staircases and finally out of the house.

After doing his best to avoid the eyes of the many citizens of Halloween Town above, Tim finally reached the manhole near the town gate. With a little effort, he lifted the metal slab and made his way into the underground alone. Darkness immediately greeted him.

Navigating the tunnels alone was quite a different experience for the boy. He could barely see in some of the passageways. With a snap of his fingers, a few sparks appeared, but nothing more. He shrugged, resolving that if he couldn't produce a flame, the sparks could at least light his way through the tunnel. And so he kept on walking, snapping skeletal fingers occasionally.

None of the creatures that Tim had seen before with his father were there to greet him. He wondered if they would even bother to come out unless they knew that the king was nearby. Or perhaps they were frightened of something. But that was silly. They were monsters–unafraid of anything apart from an angry human.

A pitch-black passage greeted Tim in the tunnel he was sure led to the prison. He couldn't prevent a chill from running up his spine. Only a few steps down the tunnel he had been forbidden to enter, he wondered if he should turn around and obey his father's wishes. Maybe he had only imagined the voice…

Then the voice answered his denial with a calm greeting of, "Tim Skellington…"

The skeleton boy nearly fell backward in surprise. He certainly hadn't imagined it this time. "Hello?" he asked, being braver.

The voice didn't answer, but Tim could _sense_ something in the darkness beside him. It was one of the most chilling things he had ever experienced, and as the Pumpkin Prince, he had experienced a lot of chills!

"C-Come out," Tim said, "I won't hurt you, I just want to talk."

He snapped his fingers and sparks appeared, but at that very moment, the voice screeched and the presence vanished further into the tunnel.

"Don't _do_ that!" the voice suddenly boomed. "Don't you have any courtesy for a shadow, boy?"

"I'm sorry!" Tim said, meaning his apology. "I didn't know you were a shadow… I've never met a living shadow."

"Well now you do, and now you have," the voice answered, its owner returning to Tim's side. "–And you came back."

"Yes," said the skeleton. "Didn't you want to talk to me?"

"I did," the voice said, its kinder tone returning. "You see, I know what your problem is, and I can help you fix it."

"Problem?" Tim asked, feeling embarrassed that news of his lack of fire was spreading around. He decided to lie with the words, "I-I don't have a problem."

"No? Word in the sewer line is that you're having trouble scaring."

"Well, maybe a little…" Tim muttered. "I'm still pretty terrifying for my age."

"But you want to be a master of terror, don't you? You want to prove that you're better than just 'pretty terrifying,'" the shadow said, feeding the boy's desires.

"Well sure," Tim answered. "I'll be a king someday."

"So why not take a helping hand?" asked the voice. As the kindly sounding shadow spoke, Time could feel something very faint holding his hand out, as if to lead him somewhere. "Let me teach you some of my own tricks–things even your dad didn't learn for a good half century."

"You would do that?" the skeleton boy asked. The offer was incredibly tempting and the shadow was so very nice to offer, but he couldn't help but be a little cautious when speaking to a stranger. "Is there any catch?"

"A catch? For the Pumpkin Prince, it's free. My boy, what kind of shadow do you make me to be?" asked the shadow.

"Well, my dad said that a prisoner lives down here. I'm just trying to be careful," Tim said.

"You're a very smart boy, and very brave to come back here on your own knowing that," the shadow said, changing the subject to praising him.

"Well, I…" Tim started then smiled at the complement. "Yes, I guess I am."

"–And just imagine how proud your father will be when he sees your new tricks."

"Yeah," Tim thought, fantasizing about the possibility of bringing something scarier to the table than even his fire. He forgot his caution in that moment and agreed. "Teach me."

"Perfect," the shadow said, invisibly shaking the skeleton boy's hand. "We'll start practice tomorrow here in this tunnel."

Overcome with the idea of being a more terrifying monster than he had imagined he would be even that morning, Tim shook the hand back. This Halloween, the whole town would be cheering for his tricks and his father would congratulate him for being so scary. It would be, in short, terrifying.

"–Tomorrow."


	4. Part IV

**Part IV**

The first lessons with the shadow were very strange to Tim, as they were completely shrouded in darkness. He could never see his new teacher in the dark, but he could always sense him there. The shadow told the boy that not being able to see was the first part of his training. He had to feel the darkness around him. The advice was more symbolic than helpful, but it did help the young skeleton find new bearings in the unfamiliar passageways of the underground.

Tim thought deeply during his third day of spending time in the darkness. He was starting to believe in the power of the shadows around him and that they were somehow a key to scaring that he had never been taught before. If it could teach him new tricks, he would believe anything. It was all blind belief until…

"Very good," the shadow said suddenly during the lesson.

Tim opened his eyes, surprised to understand the shadow's complement. All he felt were the degrees of darkness around him–varying shades of black and gray. The shadow himself though was still a shrouded, black nothingness to the boy.

"Now you can use the darkness around you to escape the light," said the shadow, tugging one of the boy's hands to guide him further into the tunnels.

"Do you mean to hide?" Tim asked the shadow as they walked together into a deeper part of the passageway where the tunnel only grew darker.

"Yes, but also to be stealthy. The things you want to scare can't see you in the dark; only when you're in the light. Prey hides in the shadows. A shadow is a predator."

Tim did his best to imagine becoming a shadow both during and outside lessons. Surprisingly, his imaginings did help somewhat. He could now understand how light moved, and how to stay away from it, clinging to a lone wall in the corner of a room as though he were an actual shadow. It gave him a new perspective on the elements of surprise and fear.

Unfortunately, though Tim's first lessons taught him much, they did not go unnoticed. Star demanded to be taken to the underground as she had been promised, but Tim didn't know how the shadow would react to his sister. And the last thing he needed was for her to tell their parents.

During the fourth day of his lessons, Tim tried to run out of his family's mansion with the half-truth that he was practicing scares by himself. His father bought the fib with ecstatic joy to hear of his son's passion for new scares from behind a desk in his private office while his mother questioned him as she prepared a meal.

"Where are you going to, Tim?" she asked as she spread pumpkin seeds on an oddly-shaped baking sheet.

"…Nowhere I haven't been before, Mother," Tim answered slowly.

The queen nodded. "–It wouldn't be the underground, would it?"

Tim had to think of an excellent answer. His mother always knew whether or not he was telling a lie when she asked yes or no questions. She had maternal intuition, but being a psychic never hurt either.

"Why would I want to go back there, Mother?" Tim asked. "You and Father don't want me to go alone."

"No one answers a question with another question unless he wants to avoid the first question," his mother said, turning to her son with a stern expression. "Please Tim, tell me I can trust you. I just want you to be safe."

The young skeleton considered himself lucky that his mother had demanded only trust of him. He knew it was wrong to keep the secret of his lessons from his parents, but he could look into his mother's eyes and tell her that she could trust him. After all, if he trusted the shadow, there was no reason she couldn't.

* * *

The shadow taught Tim more and more lessons each day. Every lesson began with a moment to adjust to the darkness. Tim was surprised by how much the warm up helped him navigate the tunnels and think new, frightening thoughts. It was like focusing and daydreaming at the same time, and yet, he still could not see his shadowy mentor.

After that, Tim practiced tricks involving the shadows around him. It took a while, but he could shrink into a dark patch on the floor, hide perfectly, then reappear to frighten any creature caught unawares. More than merely feeling the shadows and creeping about in them, the darkness could be harvested, like an object.

"Feel the darkness," said the shadow as Tim desperately tried to take a spot of darkness up from the floor into his skeletal palm.

"I–I do, but I can't pick it up," Tim said.

"You _have_ to," said his teacher. "It's your weapon."

"Weapon?" Tim asked, his concentration vanishing.

The shadow sighed before continuing. "Yes, the shadows are weapons. And much more powerful weapons than that fire your father uses."

Tim was in disbelief. His father's fire was revered in Halloween Town. If there was something more powerful than that, why hadn't he told his son about it?

"You're sure about that?" Tim asked, almost wanting to test his fire out then despite his teacher's detestation of bright light.

"Yes. You see, light only exists for a short amount of time, but everything in light's way casts a shadow. And after a time, all light will disappear."

"But what makes it more powerful?"

"–_Because_," the shadow huffed, "if you can control the dark, there's no need for light. Now, pick up that patch!"

Tim wanted to press the issue further, since he had doubts that controlling darkness was an advantage over his family's one-of-a-kind fire, but he still wanted to learn a new trick. He focused on the dark spot again. This time the spot moved, just a tiny bit, before settling back down into place.

"Oh no you don't!" Tim yelled, clenching his phalanges together and bringing the small shadow back into his control. The blob of darkness leapt off the ground and appeared in his hands, twirling around like a wisp. "Wow!" he said.

"It feels nice to control something, doesn't it, Tim Skellington?" the shadow asked, its voice dripping with glee.

"It sure does," Tim said, playing with the tiny shadow in his hand like putty to form different shapes. "Look," Tim said, "it's a pumpkin!"

"Think scarier," said the shadow.

Tim did, and soon the puppet shadow transformed into his own father's skull, albeit a shadow version of it.

"Dad will love this," Tim said.

"Ah, but you should wait to surprise him with your biggest trick yet," said the shadow.

"What's that?" asked Tim.

"You'll find out soon, but I can assure you, it's more terrifying than you can imagine!"

Tim, feeling very grateful, reached out to the shadow with both hands. He tried to embrace the creature, but his hands hugged nothing.

"What are you doing?" asked the voice.

"I just wanted to thank you. You've shown me such incredible tricks and have been such a good friend."

"No hugs, please. A simple 'thanks' will do," said the shadow. Then it slunk back into the darkest tunnels of the underground and bid the young skeleton farewell.

As he traveled out of the dark and back toward the light above that day, Tim felt elated. He was so elated, in fact, that he practically danced around in tunnels. In his happiness though, he accidentally ran into the familiar demon with many eyes. The skeleton fell backward but the creature seemed un-phased.

"I'm sorry, sir," he said.

"You shouldn't be down here alone, Pumpkin Prince," said the creature from an invisible mouth.

"I…I what?" Tim stammered as the creature simply continued on its way through the tunnel. Before it vanished into the dark though, the demon did make a last comment.

"Stay home this Halloween."


	5. Part V

_Author's Note__:__ My sister and I are going to push to get this done as soon as possible. With any luck, we'll achieve our goal of having it done by the last day of March. If you've enjoyed the story so far (and I've seen the traffic—I know you're there) please leave a review. Just a few thoughts or suggestions would be very helpful.  
_

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

**Part V**

Halloween was now very close. All the monsters were making their last-minute preparations for the town ceremony and a night of frightening humans. Some of the monsters were even entertaining a few Christmas, Easter, and St. Patrick's Day tourists. Nobody had time to take note of the Pumpkin Prince's daily disappearances. The ever-busy royal family tried to keep up with their only son's daily excursions, but no one could get a conclusive answer of what tricks Tim was trying out on his own.

"Tim, why don't you show us one of your new tricks?" Sally suggested to her eager-to-leave son one day, while trying to hold back a squirming Noel in her arms.

"I want to keep it a surprise, Mother," Tim answered.

"–Then you can keep your greatest trick a secret," Jack said with a big, bony smile on his face as he walked into the room.

"All right," Tim agreed, thinking of something that wouldn't be too interesting. Then he darted into the nearest hallway shadow. Briefly, he closed his eyes to feel the darkness around him.

"Tim?" his mother called, worried that he might have snuck away in the darkness.

But Tim wasn't gone. He was joining with the various shadows in the room to sneak up on them. He found the shadow cast by his own parents, then appeared in it, and emerged as himself–and very quickly too.

"Yes mother?" he asked, startling the queen who was still peering deeply into the hall.

"Goodness, Tim…" she gasped, spooked, as Noel clapped her bony fingers.

"A dark trick!" Jack said. "Are you little goblins already practicing those at school?"

"Uh, yes," Tim lied before setting off and declaring, "I have to go now!"

The boy could hear his family's protestations behind him as he ran down the longest staircase in the house. He was very thankful for his baby sister's ever-distracting tantrums as he lunged through Zero's transparent body, darting for the front door of the manor. Unfortunately, he hadn't accounted for his older sister, who appeared in front of him to block his path.

"You'd better take me to the prison. Now," she demanded.

"Please, some other day!" Tim begged, clawing at the doorknob behind her.

"You promised. Now pay up!" she pressed, but then Tim kicked her in the knee bone and quickly opened the door while she braced herself. "Hey!" she yelled, running after him.

Tim tried to avoid an obvious path to the manhole and everyone's–but most especially Star's–attention. He slunk into the shadows cast by the pumpkin sun above and darted into cracks to stay hidden. It felt as though he were running through an obstacle course made by his own town. Finally, feeling that the coast was clear, he emerged from a crack in a wall and clambered over to the manhole. He sighed in relief as he lifted the slab and began to lower himself below the ground.

"Big relief, huh Timothy?" said a sly voice.

Tim looked up to see his older sister staring down at him angrily. "You found me," he said in defeat.

"Just because I'm not as scary as you doesn't mean I don't know your sneak and creep tricks. And if you close that slab on me, I'll go home and tell them right now…"

"Fine! Fine!" Tim said, letting her win. "But watch your step. It's really dark down here."

Star stepped down past her brother, her dress snagging on the dried branches and cracks in the rock walls before reaching the bottom. Tim followed as she looked around.

"Creepy," she said, not meaning it in any good or bad sense.

"Don't worry. It gets scarier the further we go. Soon you won't be able to see a thing!"

"Hooray," Star said sarcastically and followed.

"You could always go back," Tim offered.

"No. We had a deal. Take me to the prison," Star said firmly.

"Fine, fine. You're such a nag!"

The Skellington children walked through the tunnels, rarely speaking beyond an occasional jab at the other's pride. Star felt more anxious about the trip the further they walked. Aside from not liking the dark, it was obvious to her that something wasn't right.

Tim was tempted to call for the shadow, but he was fairly certain that it wasn't nearby due to the lack of presence he felt. The two walked into Tim and the shadow's usual training place, where the underground was patched with many degrees of light before fading into utter darkness in a tunnel beyond.

"Tim, what's that?" Star whispered, pointing to something ahead of them.

"What's what?" Tim asked, squinting to look at the barely visible object.

It was a red spike protruding from the ceiling that stood out due to its color in the near pure darkness. Tim and Star wondered about the lone spike a little longer before spotting another just like it further inside the passage. They spotted another, and another, before realizing that the spikes formed a rather large circle above their skulls.

"What's this about, Tim?" Star asked, trying to get some kind of answer out of her brother.

"I don't know," Tim answered. "I never noticed this before, and Mister Shadow never talked about it."

"A shadow? What… Never mind. Can you make a light to look at it?"

Tim considered the idea of testing his fire, but decided against it. "Mister Shadow doesn't like light."

"Well, do you want to know what the spikes are or not?"

"Of course I do."

"Then make a fire," she pressed, then sneered, "–unless you're afraid you can't do it."

"I'm _not_ afraid!" Tim growled, letting his anger overtake his emotions. For the first time since he met the shadow, Tim could feel the flickers of his powers burning through his bones. Letting that fire take over, a tiny flame appeared in his palm. Not thinking about his accomplishment for long, Tim joined his sister in inspecting the spike circle.

"Woah," he muttered, taking in the sight.

The red spikes were the tips of a great wooden wheel. On each of the sections between the spikes was a brightly colored image, and each of these portrayed different things such as guillotines and boiling pots. It all looked downright evil rather than a fun time at the torture device park. It was the large central image, however, that Tim found the most frightening.

"It's Oogie Boogie!" Star yelped before her brother could take in the sight of the hideous burlap creature with an open grin and a host of creepy crawlies escaping that wide maw.

Tim paused, frightened by what he saw. Even though he had never met Halloween's enemy in-person, he feared such a likeness of him as any good goblin would. "B-but why is a picture of Oogie Boogie here?" Tim asked. "This is Mister Shadow's home."

"Maybe he got it from Oogie," Star thought aloud, then grabbed her younger brother's arm. "Come on, let's go."

"But…Mister Shadow's my friend. Why would he have one of Oogie's torture wheels?"

"Who cares? I'm scared Tim. I–"

"_Turn-off-the-light_!" screeched a voice from seemingly all around in the echoing tunnel. Tim's fire torch burned out in surprise while Star ran off.

"Star, watch your step!" he yelled as his sister vanished, crying in fear, from his sight. It was too late though, as he heard her hit the ground ahead, followed by her terrified scream. Star had never been the bravest of monsters, but Tim could tell that something had really frightened her. Just then, he sensed the shadow reappearing in the chamber beside him.

"You!" the shadow practically growled. "You know not to bring that horrible light down here. And _she_ wasn't invited for scare training!"

"I'm sorry," Tim cracked, "I'll go home now…"

"No!" hissed the shadow. "–Not until you learn our latest trick."

"But what about my sister?" Tim asked.

"Don't worry. She'll just wander around for a bit. But the sooner you learn this trick, the sooner you go home."

"I don't–I don't want to practice anymore," Tim said, braving the shadow's anger and his own guilt at the same time.

"Do you think you have a choice?" asked the shadow.

Tim was confused at first by the question before he tried to move. He found both his legs were completely frozen still. "What's going on, Mister Shadow?" he asked, trying to sound brave despite this frightening trick.

"Don't worry, boy. Just think about the darkness. Think about _your _shadow."

* * *

Star had given up on running around in the tunnels. She had tried, but simply couldn't find a passage to light her way out. Not being blessed with pumpkin fire, all she could do was hoard the glowworms she found and continue calling for help.

It had been a few hours of this fruitless wandering, all the while Star met no creatures of the underground. She knew that if she found one, she could always use her royal authority to get an escort home. It was finding her brother that would be the real trouble.

"Hello," she said, almost disinterested in her quest to find help as the cluster of glowworms twitched half-dead in her hands.

"Hello?" replied a voice at last.

"Huh?" Star muttered. She squinted to see, as somewhere in the darkness she could tell something was coming toward her. "Hello?" she called back.

"Star, is that you?" asked the voice–her brother's voice.

"Tim?" she yelped and ran toward her sibling.

The skeleton children ran to each other blindly in the darkness and literally ran into each other with a thud. Recovering from their dizziness, they spoke.

"I'm so happy to see you again!" Tim said. "I was worried you were hurt."

"I guess I shouldn't have run away like that," Star said, then crossed her skeletal arms. "–But that Mister Shadow is bad news. Where did you meet him, Tim?"

"He's…he's been teaching me new tricks," Tim said. "He's always been so friendly, but now I don't know."

"Does Papa know this Mister Shadow?"

"Well, no. I wanted to keep my new scares secret for Halloween night."

Star was shocked by her brother's foolishness. "Tim, what were you thinking? He could be dangerous, especially since he owns that Oogie torture wheel! He could be–"

"–I know that now!" Tim yelled, interrupting her. The two children stayed silent and looked to each other, emotionally drained from the day's happenings.

"What happened back there?" Star asked, breaking the silence. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," Tim said. "I learned a new trick, but I'm not using it. And I'm never coming back." He took another pause and looked to her. "Why did you scream?"

Star twiddled her fingers. "He's very scary looking…"

"You saw him?" Tim asked. "He never comes out of the dark. What does he look like?"

"He's tall–taller than dad with a big top hat. His hands are like a ghost's, dark but still see-through."

"What does his face look like?"

"He…doesn't have a face," Star responded, frightened. "There's nothing there."

"Like the Headless Horseman?" Tim asked.

"No. It-it was different than that. I can't explain it, but it was so dark that…it scared me."

After a long pause, the skeletal siblings took an undead breath. They had both been through an ordeal that day. Finally feeling a bit more relaxed, Star asked if Tim knew a way out. He nodded and tried to light a torch with his fingers. Unlike their earlier adventures that day, nothing happened.

"Scared again?" Star asked, following her brother who could find his way through the darkness without the fire's aid.

At his sister's comment, Tim thought only of the final trick he had been forced to learn–how the shadow had kept him practically incapacitated until he learned it. It had been humiliating and indeed scary, and worse, he could never tell his parents of these many misadventures in the underground. If there was one thing he now feared as much as the shadow, it was their punishment for listening to him.

"No," he said.


End file.
